Being Herself
by whitetigerwolf
Summary: Aphrodite appears different to everyone that sees her. What is she actually like? Could be considered regular Mythology, but I felt it fit better in Percy Jackson. One-Shot.


**I Do Not Own Greek Mythology or Percy Jackson and the Olympians**

**I put this story in the Percy Jackson section, as opposed to the regular Mythology section, because I felt that it fit better in this section. Plus, I'm using Rick Riordan's idea that Aphrodite appears different to everyone. And while that may in fact be used in regular mythology, the first I heard of it was Percy Jackson.**

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Aphrodite would never admit it, but she hated what she was.

It wasn't so much being a goddess, or even her responsibilities as a goddess, so much as what she considered the curse that she lived with.

No one, except possibly the Fates (you could never tell with those three) saw her for her. All anyone ever saw was what they thought most beautiful, and while she could see what others saw when she chose, it still wasn't her.

On top of that, she had to put up with all the demeaning comments. From those who had never lived her life or known what she had. Artemis, the high and mighty virgin of the hunt was one of the worst. And while her demeaning comments were a great excuse to hate the goddess, it wasn't the real reason.

No, the real reason Aphrodite hated Artemis was that, before Artemis' birth, Aphrodite was goddess of the hunt and goddess of archery. It was true, who did they think shot the arrows of love before Eros was born? She was a gifted archer, and indeed, having been born of Ouranos himself, had several centuries more experience that the red-headed upstart.

And as an archer, she had enjoyed hunting. It had been, and still was, her favorite way to pass the time.

But when Artemis and Apollo had been born, Zeus, made them both the god and goddess of archery, which Aphrodite could have lived with. But when Artemis was granted goddess-ship of the Hunt, Aphrodite's life had been changed forever.

No longer was she sent out to hunt down threats to Olympus. As the Goddess of love and beauty, she was now seen as too delicate, girly, and soft to do such a thing. She was no longer prayed to for help tracking and bringing down game, she was only prayed to, to be asked for help in bed or finding a lover.

And the worst part was that everyone began assuming she loved pink. She hated the color.

And what was even worse was that, despite being goddess of the hunt, and taking away something Aphrodite loved, Artemis kept insisting that she was useless because love was useless.

There were times she sometimes wondered if she should have sided with Kronos instead of the Olympians, but she doubted he would have treated her much better. In fact he likely would have treated her worse.

And while she admitted she was a bit of a slut, aside from the virgin goddesses and Hera, she'd like to see one god or goddess that wasn't. Hell, even virgin Athena had kids. But because of her perceived beauty, and the fact she made no attempt to hide her various affairs, she was looked down on.

With a sigh, Aphrodite closed the door to the private quarters of her Olympian palace, the one place she never allowed anyone to see, so that nothing would change. Like her, her palace changed to appear as what her guest expected to appear, including what most thought was her actual bedroom. But she had kept others out of the wing she actually lived in, so that she never had to see what others expected, even in her mind.

Anyone stepping into this part of her palace, and seeing what she saw, would never believe the goddess of love and beauty lived here. The whole wing resembled an old cabin. The walls were decorated with various animal skins and heads from her various hunts. Walking into her bedroom, she opened her closet, and where one would expect to find numerous designer clothes and shoes, she saw comfortable t-shirts, jeans that one would probably find on the rack at Wal-Mart, and tennis shoes and boots.

Pulling out a nightshirt, which was simply an oversized T-shirt, the goddess made her way to her private bathroom.

She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, her true-self. While she had blond hair, it wasn't golden blond, it was dirty blond and braided down her back. Covering her hair was a camouflage ball-cap. Her dark green t-shirt, which had a picture of a female hunter aiming at a deer said, 'Never send a Man to do a Women's Job.' And her skinny jeans hugged her legs, before coming to a rest over her well-worn cowboy boots.

She doubted anyone would believe that Aphrodite considered herself a redneck.

But she did. She drank beer and whiskey, loved hunting and being outdoors, and loved racing, trucks, and mud bogging.

Sadly, everything anyone gave her, including her husband, was based on the imaged they had of her. That was why, instead of the pick-up she'd wanted, her husband had given her a limousine. It was why, instead of fishing lures, she was given jewelry. It was why she was offered champagne and wine when all she wanted was a longneck or a shot.

Looking away from the mirror, Aphrodite stripped off her clothes, tossing them into the hamper, before undoing her braid and stepping into the shower. She hated seeing herself naked in the privacy of her wing. When her clothes were off, the blond could easily see herself as just the goddess of beauty and love. Oh, she didn't hate her body, but it was a reminder of what she was, and what she wanted to forget when she entered her private wing.

If only she could meet someone that could see through her gift…her curse, and see the woman underneath it all.

Was too much to want to be loved for being herself?

The goddess shook her head. She needed to get rid of these depressing thoughts. It had been a while since she'd actually spent some time doing something she loved, besides sex anyway. Tomorrow, Aphrodite decided, she'd get out her compound bow and go out hunting.

She'd decide what to hunt after a good night's sleep.

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**I got the idea of a redneck Aphrodite in my head, I don't know how, and wanted to share it. I had several ideas for it, but decided to just show it. Who knows, you might see more redneck Aphrodite from me or you might not.**

**Hope you enjoyed.**

**Please Review and Checkout the Challenges in My Forums and the stories I have up for adoption, posted under the title Please Adopt Me!**


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